On 11 December 2015, Disabled People’s Association (DPA) and Caretalyst jointly organised Project Illuminate, an event raising awareness and promoting inclusion of people with disabilities.
Project Illuminate was part of the Servathon 2015 initiative, a community service marathon that tests your volunteering stamina. Through participation in a series of fun simulation activities, Servathon seeks to benefit both the helpers and those who are helped. Servathon was started in 2012 by CityCare, a non-profit organisation whose vision is to build a city that cares by building a culture of doing good.
Caretalyst is a student initiated portfolio from Nanyang Technological University (NTU) that aims to promote volunteerism through a series of planned activities. They have been working with various groups of beneficiaries since 2012.
Dr Marissa Lee Medjeral-Mills, Executive Director of DPA, opened the event by emphasising the important role students have in promoting inclusion of people with disabilities. The Caretalysts demonstrated how well they had fulfilled that role by designing games, the aim of which was to get a pair of participants (a DPA member and a Caretalyst) working together. The games could be played at different skill levels and by people with different disabilities: They were well planned and enthusiastically received, with goodie bags and prizes awarded at the end.
After the games the fun continued with various performances and much audience participation: A wheelchair dance (Ms Margaret), songs sung by DPA members (Mr Adam, Ms Halipa and Ms Aisah Binte Ibrahim) and the DPA team teaching and leading a “Sign-a-Long” version of the festive “Jingle Bells”.
DPA is most grateful for the support of Christian Outreach to the Handicapped (COH), one of DPA’s institutional members. DPA also presented a flower bouquet to NTU Caretalysts as a token of appreciation. DPA would like to thank the organizing team for Project Illuminate – Khoo Yi Jin, Leong Jun Wei Carissa, Emily Chong Kai En, Tham Zhi Jie, Phua Zai Yao, Lim Zheng Rui Sherman, Tan Fang Tian and Lim Wei Jie Jonathan – for their commitment and dedication.
Project Illuminate came about through the outreach engagement of the DPA’s Disability Awareness Talk Series (DATS). To find out more about DATS please contact Ms Asha Karen at [email protected]
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